Open thread: Romney to speak at NAACP; Update: Excerpts added

posted at 9:21 am on July 11, 2012 by Ed Morrissey

Mitt Romney makes his pitch to the oldest civil-rights organization in the US today with a 9:30 speech to the NAACP at its annual convention. Republican presidential candidates usually make this one of the stops in election years, although Republican Presidents don’t usually return. George W. Bush skipped the convention in 2004 after attending in 2000, an appearance that was followed by an NAACP ad in that election cycle that tried to blame Bush for the dragging death of James Byrd in Texas for Bush’s opposition to “hate crime” legislation. (It’s worth noting that Byrd’s white-supremacist murderers got the death penalty for that despicable murder even without having “hate crime” laws on the books.)

The Washington Post reports that the appearance is part of an attempt by Team Romney to reach outside the GOP’s base:

The NAACP visit is the former Massachusetts governor’s attempt to move beyond the traditional Republican Party base by trying to deliver a message that the GOP is serious about attracting black voters.

Critics say the effort is pointless for his chances in November. Supporters say it is important for the future of the party.

Romney’s campaign began preliminary outreach efforts in May by hiring a senior black consultant to engage African American voters and by visiting a predominantly black charter school in Philadelphia. Campaign officials say those efforts will be expanded in the coming weeks in an effort to wrest as many votes as possible from President Obama.

“The governor is committed to competing in the black community. The odds are high, it’s challenging, but every percentage point that we chip away from President Obama counts,” said Tara Wall, who is consulting with the Romney campaign on outreach efforts. “There are shared values with this community around faith, family, free enterprise and education. He will highlight his record in terms of addressing health, wealth and disparity gaps and show clear distinctions between him and Obama.”

Romney will stick to the economy and avoid any divisive topics, the Daily Caller reports. In other words, don’t expect Romney to discuss Operation Fast and Furious today:

When asked if Romney plans to talk about any of the aforementioned issues during his Wednesday NAACP convention speech, though, campaign spokeswoman Andrea Saul replied with just one word to The Daily Caller: “Economy,” she wrote.

Romney’s decision to avoid talking about anything but the economy when heading into a potentially unpleasant situation — like he’s doing by speaking to NAACP on the same stage as Holder spoke the day before, while refusing to address his criticism of him — is a campaign tactic that has drawn fierce criticism from conservatives as of late.

Does anyone really expect — or want — Romney to go to the NAACP and spend his time arguing that Holder should be fired? Please. That’s not an argument that Romney needs to make today — or actually any other day, at least not until voters engage on that topic. Darrell Issa is doing just fine in pursuing the civil contempt charge, as polls have already shown, and the GOP should stick to the legal strategy for now. Voters care about the economy, and every time Romney engages on other topics, he wastes an opportunity to hit Obama where he’s weakest.

Plus, the economy should be an even more important topic today. While Obama and Democrats claim to be happy to be adding jobs at a pace of 65,200 per month during the recovery, the topline jobless rate for African-Americans is 14.4%. That’s up from 13.0% just two months ago, and darned close to the 14.8% it was at the start of the recovery. That’s where Romney’s focus should be — and perhaps on school choice, the best opportunity for black children to escape failing urban school districts and have a better chance at economic success in the future.

We’ll add the speech later today. If we can find an embeddable live-video stream of the speech, we’ll add that as well.

Update: Yes, I screwed up the tag on the headline. Yes, I had already had my first cup of coffee. Obvious lesson: Time to move to a richer blend.

Team Romney released some excerpts from the prepared speech, and as I figured, Romney is sticking to the economy and school choice:

You all know something of my background, and maybe you’ve wondered how any Republican ever becomes governor of Massachusetts in the first place. Well, in a state with 11 percent Republican registration, you don’t get there by just talking to Republicans. We have to make our case to every voter. We don’t count anybody out, and we sure don’t make a habit of presuming anyone’s support. Support is asked for and earned – and that’s why I’m here today. …

… I believe that if you understood who I truly am in my heart, and if it were possible to fully communicate what I believe is in the real, enduring best interest of African American families, you would vote for me for president. I want you to know that if I did not believe that my policies and my leadership would help families of color — and families of any color — more than the policies and leadership of President Obama, I would not be running for president. …

… I am running for president because I know that my policies and vision will help hundreds of millions of middle class Americans of all races, will lift people from poverty, and will help prevent people from becoming poor. My campaign is about helping the people who need help. The course the President has set has not done that – and will not do that. My course will.

When President Obama called to congratulate me on becoming the presumptive Republican nominee, he said that he, quote, “looked forward to an important and healthy debate about America’s future.” To date, I’m afraid that his campaign has taken a different course than that.

…

If someone had told us in the 1950s or 60s that a black citizen would serve as the forty-fourth president, we would have been proud and many would have been surprised. Picturing that day, we might have assumed that the American presidency would be the very last door of opportunity to be opened. Before that came to pass, every other barrier on the path to equal opportunity would surely have to come down.

Of course, it hasn’t happened quite that way. Many barriers remain. Old inequities persist. In some ways, the challenges are even more complicated than before. And across America — and even within your own ranks — there are serious, honest debates about the way forward.

If equal opportunity in America were an accomplished fact, then a chronically bad economy would be equally bad for everyone. Instead, it’s worse for African Americans in almost every way. The unemployment rate, the duration of unemployment, average income, and median family wealth are all worse for the black community. In June, while the overall unemployment rate remained stuck at 8.2 percent, the unemployment rate for African Americans actually went up, from 13.6 percent to 14.4 percent.

Americans of every background are asking when this economy will finally recover – and you, in particular, are entitled to an answer.

If equal opportunity in America were an accomplished fact, black families could send their sons and daughters to public schools that truly offer the hope of a better life. Instead, for generations, the African-American community has been waiting and waiting for that promise to be kept. Today, black children are 17 percent of students nationwide – but they are 42 percent of the students in our worst-performing schools.

…

When it comes to education reform, candidates cannot have it both ways – talking up education reform, while indulging the same groups that are blocking reform. You can be the voice of disadvantaged public-school students, or you can be the protector of special interests like the teachers unions, but you can’t be both. I have made my choice: As president, I will be a champion of real education reform in America, and I won’t let any special interest get in the way.

I will give the parents of every low-income and special needs student the chance to choose where their child goes to school. For the first time in history, federal education funds will be linked to a student, so that parents can send their child to any public or charter school, or to a private school, where permitted. And I will make that a true choice by ensuring there are good options available to all.

Should I be elected President, I’ll lead as I did when governor. I will look for support wherever there is good will and shared conviction. I will work with you to help our children attend better schools and help our economy create good jobs with better wages.

</IThis is goigbto be about like Robinson Cano's reception in Kansas City during the Home Run Derby Monday night. Which actually makes it a good place for Romney to get a point or two across, since anything he says short of endorsing Obama for president is going to get booed.

What he needs to talk about is how black men have shown to be some of the biggest entrpreneuers in the country, but it’s too easy to lose people who should be their future community business leaders to vice.

In other words, gang members have the drive and hustle of any Wall Streeter, but they get pulled into drugs and a police record before they have a chance.

Romney should fire the guy who advised him to do this. While reaching out to the opposite side is a good idea, speaking at NAACP is an awful one. He is giving a lot of shameless people the opportunity to embarrass him and give him bad press.

Romney should fire the guy who advised him to do this. While reaching out to the opposite side is a good idea, speaking at NAACP is an awful one. He is giving a lot of shameless people the opportunity to embarrass him and give him bad press.

Romney should fire the guy who advised him to do this. While reaching out to the opposite side is a good idea, speaking at NAACP is an awful one. He is giving a lot of shameless people the opportunity to embarrass him and give him bad press.

CoolAir on July 11, 2012 at 9:31 AM

Why, so they can embarrass him and give him bad press for ignoring black people or whatever by not speaking? We know they’re going to support the Dem, but it doesn’t hurt to give a speech in front of them.

It’s probably good that Romney goes. The NAACP is just waiting to throw the “Mormons hate blacks” card at him. This is a chance for Romney to get out in front of it with his family’s civil rights bona fides. In the end it likely won’t matter though, they’ll still smear him, but at least this way it would be openly disingenuous after speaking directly to the NAACP.

Romney will stick to the economy and avoid any divisive topics, the Daily Caller reports. In other words, don’t expect Romney to discuss Operation Fast and Furious today:

wait, what? OF&F is a divisive topic? Holder received a bipartisan vote of contempt. I’d say that’s unifying. The only things that remain divided are the families of Brian Terry and 200 Mexicans. Oh, and about 1400 more weapons that we haven’t got any ideas as to where they are right now. Oh and yes, the US Border Patrol is alarmingly shutting down border control stations in southwestern states……..

From what the Houston Chronicle reports there are not many that showed up for this spectacle but they got to hear a second stringer yesterday harp about Texas voter ID bill even though you must have a pictured ID to get in.

Romney had to do this, you know. It’s what the GOP does. Pander to an organization run by bought-and-paid for Democratic Organizers who happen to be black so he can pander to the Independents and the Good Gummint RINO Squishtards like John Huntsman who are burdened with White Guilt.

They will still run a commercial blaming him for the death of James Byrd.

Oh, wait. Wrong Election.

I wish to God this were Palin making that speech. The thread would be into the thousands.

This event will convince nor sway a single person there. If Romney was inspirational in any kind of way, maybe. Just not the kind of candidate we have atm.

Dongemaharu on July 11, 2012 at 9:47 AM

I don’t think Mitt even has to go that far. All that he has to do is sow the seeds of doubt about the President’s policies. You never know what will happen. Consider how fertile the ground may be there—UE rate of 14.4%, children in sh!tty schools and zero ZERO jobs on the horizon. That’s a hard sell for an incumbent to face when he’s asking for four more years. The challenger has to merely make those peeps question their current existence and Mitt may just spark a wildfire or fan the flames of one that is already smoldering.

It’s tough for any GOPer in that room. Obama is still revered in the black community because he is the First (for Real, now) Black President, even though he has no slave lineage in him.

The black community might waver on him some, but it’s a question of moving from 95% support down to, perhaps, 92% support.

The James Byrd Dragging Death commercial is out there, somewhere, that applies to Mitt Romney. It’s just waiting to be put in the can, in case black support starts to soften or black voters start thinking heretical thoughts, like, “where the f**k did all the jobs go to that we were promised?”

The black community might waver on him some, but it’s a question of moving from 95% support down to, perhaps, 92% support.

Can’t have that now, can we?

victor82 on July 11, 2012 at 9:57 AM

Apparently, it is nearly impossible for a Dem to win without that vote locked up tight. I don’t quite understand why, but Sun Tzu implored generals to test your opponent to find where they are sufficient and where they are lacking. Moreover, forcing the opponent to defend ground that they have never had to defend before is a sharp blow to an opponent’s morale.

The Obama administration issued a politically charged policy directive Friday that will make about 800,000 young people who were brought to the United States illegally as children safe from deportation proceedings, and may make them eligible for work permits.

Even more alarming is the unemployment rate among black youth, ages 16-19, jumped a full 2.8 points, to 39.3 percent.

If some group in the audience heckles him do you think there will be supportive folks to drown it in applause? What if somebody stops him in the midst of speech and asks a question. Who do you the audience will agree with? Hell, do you even think there will even a single applause at any point in the speech? Remember what happened in Philly. I agree they themselves will be shown in bad light due to such behavior. But as long as they can take down Romney, do you think they will care? Moreover they will become heroes in their own community.

We have to make our case to every voter. We don’t count anybody out, and we sure don’t make a habit of presuming anyone’s support. Support is asked for and earned – and that’s why I’m here today. …

Great speech and great zinger! Obama couldn’t give a crap about blacks because he knows that he can assume their support no matter what.

That said, this won’t move the needle much, if at all. You’re not going to deprogram everything they’ve been mistaught about Republicans since birth. But, at least he can’t be accused of not reaching out to the black community.

That said, this won’t move the needle much, if at all. You’re not going to deprogram everything they’ve been mistaught about Republicans since birth. But, at least he can’t be accused of not reaching out to the black community.

The Count on July 11, 2012 at 10:08 AM

I don’t think he needs to move the needle much. It’s a risky bet, but I give him props for taking risk on this one. In order to make a stark distinction between himself and the president, he needs to go to venues that help him make a stark distinction—stand in front of Solyndra, stand in front of the NAACP, hell–go stand in Detroit. Either way, be distinctive.

For the first time in history, federal education funds will be linked to a student, so that parents can send their child to any public or charter school, or to a private school, where permitted.

Sweet, sweet music.

I can see the fight at Thanksgiving, though. My hippie sister, and my low-information-niece-in-law, will tell me that starving the public schools of cash is a bad thing.

I will explain that no one will actually be starved, and then talk about how moving toward private education will cause whole “education systems” to start appearing, competing for students (competing for vouchers) — how great it will be …

My sister will tell me I’ve been brainwashed by “them,” and how stupid I am. She’ll tell me I’m being used. (My support for Palin, BTW, was, apparently, my Libido.) My niece will be more forgiving, let it go, and play Angry Birds.